Too good for their own good: Olney boys' football team banned from playoffs

OLNEY, Md. (WUSA9) -- A parent of child with a youth football team banned from playoffs says the Mid- Maryland Youth Football League did not reverse its decision Wednesday night. That means three Olney teams wil lnot be allowed to be in the league playoffs.

Dozens of angry parents say the league has kicked their boys out of the playoffs because they are too good.

When practice starts, the coaches are going to have to explain to 71 boys that they can't go to the playoffs because they've won so many games. The league is accusing them of essentially stacking the deck.

The Olney Boys and Girls Clubs have had an outstanding season in the lower division. Four teams have racked up 21 wins and just two losses. They've scored a total of 400 more points than their opponents.

"Excuse me, it's a little emotional, because to explain to my son that all he's worked for all year, and these boys, what they've done," says Charles Fultz. He says his son's success is being used against him.

The league believes Olney's deliberately put its best players in a weaker division and its worst players in a stronger division - giving some teams a chance to destroy the competition and leaving new players to be destroyed themselves.

The Director of Olney's football program says he's never seen anything like this: "These are kids between 8 and 11 years old, and a week before the playoffs, they're being yanked out from under them. There are 71 children impacted."

Fultz says he doesn't know how he's going to explain it to his son.

"Here we are, boys doing what they're supposed to, trying to serve for the best, are being ostracized for something they believed in," said Fultz.